No injuries reported in Kirkwood avalanche

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An avalanche 50 yards long and 50 to 75 yards wide occurred at Kirkwood Mountain Resort on Thursday.

None of the four people involved were injured in the incident, which took place in the Eagle Bowl area of the resort before Kirkwood Ski Patrol received a call about 11:56 a.m., spokesman Kevin Cooper said.

No one was buried in the avalanche, he said, and the area was cleared at 12:47 p.m.

“Kirkwood Mountain Resort would like to commend patrol for their quick, skilled response and are grateful no injuries were sustained,” according to a press release.

The ski patrol regularly performs avalanche mitigation at the resort, according to Kirkwood, and Eagle Bowl opened late this season because of those measures.

On Thursday, avalanche danger near and above treeline in the Sierra was moderate with pockets of considerable danger on northwest, north, northeast, east and southeast aspects of mountains on slopes 35 degrees and steeper, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.

Avalanche danger below treeline was moderate on all aspects of mountains that held previous snow cover on slopes 35 degrees and steeper, the center reported on its website.

It also reported the possibility of natural avalanches with human-triggered snow slides likely.